Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Inside The Pentagon
February 7, 2008
Pg. 1
As the Pakistani government struggles to combat the growing presence of al Qaeda and other insurgent groups within its borders, the Pentagon’s special operations chief this week raised the possibility of U.S. forces taking a larger role in that fight.
U.S. special operations or conventional troops could assist the Pakistani military via joint operations against al Qaeda operatives without advertising the U.S. role, Assistant Defense Secretary for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict Michael Vickers said during a Feb. 6 breakfast with reporters in Washington.
“Joint operations can mean a lot of things,” he said. “We have certain capabilities that we can do in a low-visibility manner that can enhance the operations of Pakistani forces.”
Declining to speculate on what role U.S. forces could play in joint operations with Pakistan, Vickers said any U.S. involvement “would be by, with and through the Pakistanis.”
U.S. military and intelligence officials have long suspected that many of al Qaeda’s senior leadership -- including Osama Bin Laden -- have sought refuge within Pakistan’s vast border with Afghanistan.
Recent news reports have stated that the Central Intelligence Agency has already launched a number of airstrikes via unmanned aerial drones against senior al Qaeda leaders suspected of hiding within that border region.
However, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf last month spurned a personal request by CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden and Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell to substantially increase U.S. military presence there, according to a report in The New York Times.
Hayden and McConnell proposed stepping up U.S. involvement in the region through either increased CIA-led covert operations or under a joint U.S.-Pakistan military effort, during a covert trip to the region last month, according to the Jan. 27 Times story.
Since that meeting, however, Hayden said that Musharraf’s administration has become increasingly aware that insurgent activity within the border region is as much a Pakistani problem as it is for the United States.
“Our partners in Pakistan understand that this is a Pakistani problem, and the threat coming out of the tribal area is now as much a threat to the health and well-being and identity of Pakistan,” Hayden told lawmakers during a Feb. 5 hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
“But now the question is capacity,” he added. “ What is it they can do about this with the capacity they have.”
Should Pakistan relent and allow U.S. forces to operate more freely within its borders, the overall mission footprint would still remain relatively small, according to Vickers.
“I do not think it would be right to characterize it as a bunch of Caucasians running around [in Pakistan]. I do not think that anybody would dream of that,” Vickers said. “There are lots of ways to do joint operations.”
When asked if one of those ways would be joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations, Vickers responded: “It could be, but it could be others as well.”
Vickers noted the Pentagon’s current efforts to train and equip Pakistan’s Frontier Corps is making progress.
Inside the Pentagon reported in January that 24 American and six United Kingdom personnel will train personnel from both Pakistan’s Frontier Corps and special forces, also known as the Special Service Group, under a new security development program.
Site selection for the Frontier Corps training camps in Pakistan is already under way, Vickers said. He added it will take roughly five years to “expand the capacity and increase the capabilities” of Frontier Corps personnel as well as increase the Corps’ total force numbers, under the new program.
Noting the Frontier Corps is “a very important instrument” in combating terrorist organizations in Pakistan, Vickers said the U.S.-led training mission of the Pakistani Frontier Corps is only one element in “a broader program” by both DOD and the State Department to assist the Pakistani government
“ I do not think that one single instrument or approach of form of assistance that the U.S. could provide will solve the problem [in Pakistan],” he said. “But Pakistan is a sovereign country and it has to determine what assistance it requires.”
-- Carlo Muñoz
February 7, 2008
Pg. 1
As the Pakistani government struggles to combat the growing presence of al Qaeda and other insurgent groups within its borders, the Pentagon’s special operations chief this week raised the possibility of U.S. forces taking a larger role in that fight.
U.S. special operations or conventional troops could assist the Pakistani military via joint operations against al Qaeda operatives without advertising the U.S. role, Assistant Defense Secretary for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict Michael Vickers said during a Feb. 6 breakfast with reporters in Washington.
“Joint operations can mean a lot of things,” he said. “We have certain capabilities that we can do in a low-visibility manner that can enhance the operations of Pakistani forces.”
Declining to speculate on what role U.S. forces could play in joint operations with Pakistan, Vickers said any U.S. involvement “would be by, with and through the Pakistanis.”
U.S. military and intelligence officials have long suspected that many of al Qaeda’s senior leadership -- including Osama Bin Laden -- have sought refuge within Pakistan’s vast border with Afghanistan.
Recent news reports have stated that the Central Intelligence Agency has already launched a number of airstrikes via unmanned aerial drones against senior al Qaeda leaders suspected of hiding within that border region.
However, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf last month spurned a personal request by CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden and Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell to substantially increase U.S. military presence there, according to a report in The New York Times.
Hayden and McConnell proposed stepping up U.S. involvement in the region through either increased CIA-led covert operations or under a joint U.S.-Pakistan military effort, during a covert trip to the region last month, according to the Jan. 27 Times story.
Since that meeting, however, Hayden said that Musharraf’s administration has become increasingly aware that insurgent activity within the border region is as much a Pakistani problem as it is for the United States.
“Our partners in Pakistan understand that this is a Pakistani problem, and the threat coming out of the tribal area is now as much a threat to the health and well-being and identity of Pakistan,” Hayden told lawmakers during a Feb. 5 hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
“But now the question is capacity,” he added. “ What is it they can do about this with the capacity they have.”
Should Pakistan relent and allow U.S. forces to operate more freely within its borders, the overall mission footprint would still remain relatively small, according to Vickers.
“I do not think it would be right to characterize it as a bunch of Caucasians running around [in Pakistan]. I do not think that anybody would dream of that,” Vickers said. “There are lots of ways to do joint operations.”
When asked if one of those ways would be joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations, Vickers responded: “It could be, but it could be others as well.”
Vickers noted the Pentagon’s current efforts to train and equip Pakistan’s Frontier Corps is making progress.
Inside the Pentagon reported in January that 24 American and six United Kingdom personnel will train personnel from both Pakistan’s Frontier Corps and special forces, also known as the Special Service Group, under a new security development program.
Site selection for the Frontier Corps training camps in Pakistan is already under way, Vickers said. He added it will take roughly five years to “expand the capacity and increase the capabilities” of Frontier Corps personnel as well as increase the Corps’ total force numbers, under the new program.
Noting the Frontier Corps is “a very important instrument” in combating terrorist organizations in Pakistan, Vickers said the U.S.-led training mission of the Pakistani Frontier Corps is only one element in “a broader program” by both DOD and the State Department to assist the Pakistani government
“ I do not think that one single instrument or approach of form of assistance that the U.S. could provide will solve the problem [in Pakistan],” he said. “But Pakistan is a sovereign country and it has to determine what assistance it requires.”
-- Carlo Muñoz